Hot Marlins hit road after another Jose Fernandez gem

The Miami Marlins will face their biggest test since turning around their season in the last month with a six-game road trip starting today through NL East leading Atlanta and St. Louis, which has the second best record in baseball.
The Marlins are on their hottest run of the season, having posted the majors’ third best record in June (15-10) and starting off July with another Jose Fernandez gem in a 4-0 shutout of the Padres.

The streak has allowed the Marlins to pass the Astros (at least for one day) in the race to avoid baseball’s worst record. Miami enters the day 30-51, just ahead of 30-52 Houston.

But the talk this week will center around the 20-year-old Fernandez, who pitched eight innings on Monday allowing just two hits, striking out 10 and walking one. According to ESPN, 75 of Fernandez’s 100 pitches were 97 mph and he averaged 95.1 mph.

More Fernandez facts:

* Fernandez joined Dwight Gooden and Kerry Wood as the only pitchers 20 or younger with 10 Ks and a maximum of two hits and one walk.

* Opponents now are hitting .193 against Fernandez, which is fourth-best in the majors tied with Clayton Kershaw and behind Matt Harvey, Max Scherzer and Yu Darvish.

* Here’s a comparison between Fernandez and St. Louis’ Shelby Miller, who was the early leader for the NL Rookie of the Year.